The Latest

When you're in a financial bind and need to borrow money quickly, two common options are payday loans and installment loans. Both provide fast access to cash, but they work very differently in terms of how you repay the borrowed amount. Here's a look at the key distinctions and some guidance on which type of loan may be preferable depending on your circumstances.

What is a payday loan?

A payday loan is a short-term, high-cost loan that typically needs to be repaid in full by your next payday, usually within two to four weeks. The maximum loan amounts are relatively small, usually $500 or less.

To get a payday loan, you provide the lender with a post-dated check for the full loan amount plus fees and interest. On your next payday, the lender cashes that check to recover what you owe. If you can't repay, you may be able to roll the loan over by paying only the fees and interest, but this will result in additional high charges being added.

Payday loans have extremely high annual percentage rates (APRs) that can exceed 400%. The combination of short repayment periods and exorbitant interest rates makes these loans very difficult to pay off, which is why many borrowers end up trapped in cycles of debt.

What is an installment loan?

Installment loans, as their name suggests, allow you to repay what you borrowed in a series of scheduled payments or installments over a period of months or years. Typical repayment terms range anywhere from a few months to a few decades.

The funds from an installment loan can often be used for a variety of purposes like debt consolidation, major purchases, home improvements, and more. You'll usually repay the loan on a fixed monthly schedule, making equal payments that go toward both principal and interest.

Installment loans can be secured by collateral like a home or car title, or they can be unsecured. Interest rates tend to be lower than payday loans, but will vary based on factors like your credit score, income, and whether the loan is secured or not.

Which should you choose?

In almost every situation, an installment loan is the better choice compared to a high-risk payday loan. Installment loans:

  • Are far less expensive overall due to lower fees and interest rates

  • Give you longer to repay in reasonably affordable installments

  • Are available in higher amounts suitable for bigger expenses

  • Are less likely to trap you in never-ending cycles of debt

The only instance when a payday loan could potentially make sense is if you need a very small amount of money to cover an emergency and you're certain you can repay it quickly to avoid interest charges piling up. But in general, the high costs and short repayment terms of payday loans make them exceedingly risky.

Whenever possible, explore installment loan options from personal loan providers, credit unions, banks, or online lenders. With better terms and more affordable repayment plans, they are almost always the smarter choice over predatory payday loans. For more, here are some tips for paying off loans early.


from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/X75eCgJ

Microsoft first released support for passkeys in Windows 11 last year, introducing users to a passwordless way to sign into their Microsoft accounts. Now, all consumer accounts can finally generate passkeys for use across Windows, Android, and iOS.

Microsoft announced the full rollout on its security blog this week. The company notes that attacks on passwords have surged more than 3,378 percent since it first introduced Windows Hello, its biometric-based login method for Windows 10, fueling its efforts to replace passwords with passkeys. Starting this week, Microsoft will now let you add and use passkeys that let you access your account with your face, fingerprint, or a device PIN on Windows, Google, and Apple platforms.

Passkeys have been increasing in availability across a number of sites and platforms, with Google even going the “passwordless” route by adding its own passkey systems. In short, they offer more security than a traditional password, as they're device-based: Your device holds one part of the key, while the app or site—in this case, Microsoft—holds the other. There's no "password" to hack: Without the trusted device, bad actors can't break into your accounts.

Microsoft has slowly been working towards adding passkey support across its ecosystem, starting with a passkey manager in Windows 11, which lets you save passkeys for other sites and apps directly on your device. Creating a passkey with Windows will also hopefully help make signing into other apps easier, as it sounds like Microsoft wants to expand where its Windows passkeys are accepted.

With password crackers becoming so prevalent, and passwords requirements becoming increasingly complex, passkeys offer both a convenient and more secure way to log into your account that won’t require you to write down some long and overwhelming password—thus removing some of the additional security of the password right off the bat—to remember it.

You can manage your passkeys on Windows 11 by navigating to Settings > Accounts > Passkey Settings and pressing the three dots next to any passkey to manage it.


from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/KFnV2gX

If you’re a Gen Xer or a millennial, you remember a time when college was pitched to you as a value-add, rather than a necessary expense. We all know how that turned out. And while many of us graduated and hopefully put our degrees to work, as many as 40 million Americans were classifiable as college dropouts in July 2021, according to according to EducationData.org—folks who previously enrolled in higher ed but left before completing a degree.

Plenty of people from all generations leave school before finishing a degree, for reasons that vary from financial to personal. But even after you've already entered the working world without a degree, going back to finish yours can be a smart move. If you've already earned a good number of general ed credits, for example—say a year’s worth—in theory you should be able to apply them to a degree in a new field that reflects your current ambitions, not those of your teenage self. 

For many adults, going back to school seems daunting, but finishing your degree could lead to higher salaries and more opportunities, or put you on the path to a different career altogether. I talked to an expert to get some tips on how you can apply your life experience to picking up where you left off, and share proactive strategies for finally finish your degree. 

Take stock of your (scholarly) assets

Whether it’s been one year or 20 since you left school, it’s hard to remember exactly what's on your transcript. Record gathering is an important part of the back-to-school process, so start there. Even if you plan on attending the same school you left, it’s essential to know where you stand.

Doing this will help you avoid disappointment or surprises by giving you a better idea of what’s under your belt. As a kid, the college application process seemed complex and difficult, but when you’re in your 30s and have been laid off a few times, it’s really no more complicated than a job application. 

College transcripts are an important way to take stock of your credits and their subject matter, but you might also need your high school transcripts if you’re going to be attending a different school or if it’s been so long that your previous school no longer has those records. Calling, emailing, and filling out forms is your first tstep, but paid services like Parchment can help with some of the legwork.

I asked Dr. Bri Newland, assistant dean of the New York University School of Professional Studies Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies (NYU SPS DAUS), where o begin when determining your credit status. 

“Most program policies on transfer credit typically have a maximum limit of 10 years," she said. "However, it is crucial to schedule a meeting with an experienced academic advisor who will thoroughly assess your transcripts alongside you, regardless of whether you acquired these credits beyond the specified timeframe.”

There’s more factors at play than when you stopped attending. If you have any other type of technical schooling or certifications, gather this paperwork in case there are professional equivalencies that could make your credits go farther.  

“The [NYU SPS DAUS] also assesses prior learning through other experiences beyond college credit," Dr. Newland noted. "For example, military experience can be reviewed for college credit, as well as prior work experience and apprenticeships.“

While colleges and universities are places of higher education, they are also businesses, and want you to keep going (and graduate) to keep their reputation for excellence intact, so they are usually willing to work with you. Save money and time by knocking out as many equivalent credits as possible.

Dr. Newland gave an example of how this works at NYU. “For associate's degrees, students can transfer up to 30 credits, while for bachelor's degrees, 80 credits can be transferred," she said. "This flexibility allows students to build upon their prior learning and accelerate their path to graduation.” 

Reach out to your alma mater

Give the admissions folks at your former school a call. Spring is a great time for adult students to ring, as most graduating high schoolers have already made their enrollment decisions. At many colleges, adult applicants can complete their application whenever they want, especially if it’s a school they already attended. 

Admissions counselors can do everything from getting you set up with an application, to checking your records to make sure that you have what you need to reapply, and even directing you to other school services that could make the process easier. Alumni services serve as post-attendance marketing, enticing you to return and maybe even helping you meet that goal by connecting you to financial resources.

If you’re a working professional, counselors can also help you decide if your previous school can accommodate your schedule. If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people laid off right now, you should apply for financial aid now while you’re between jobs. 

How to pay for it

If you’re in a stable job and your company doesn’t already provide educational resources as a matter of course, it can’t hurt to ask. Continuing education is often a part of competitive compensation packages, and you should to use that to your advantage. Education focused workplaces, especially in tech and healthcare, will sometimes even allow you time off of work to focus on these pursuits.

NYU in particular devotes an entire segment of their school to lifelong learners. Dr.Newland said. Adult and continuing education programs at many schools take a different approach to schoolwork too. “For example, through hands-on projects, real-world case studies, and industry collaborations, NYU SPS DAUS students gain practical experience and develop the tools and strategies needed to tackle complex problems and drive innovation in their fields, she noted.”

For the unemployed or underemployed, you can follow the same route you did as a high schooler: Apply for financial aid, in all its many forms. It’s easier than ever to find loans and scholarships, and you can enter into the process with your eyes open and the financial literacy of an adult. Grants, repayment programs, and even low-cost loans could offer just enough to cover the handful of credits you need to complete if you're close to finishing, while a scholarship could cover a year or more.

Use all the tools at your disposal

I'm not saying you should use AI to write an entrance letter or complete your research papers after work, but imagine if you had ChatGPT to check your grammar and spelling 15 years ago. Digital calendars, digital note-taking, and other educational tools have come a long way in recent years, and you should use them help you across the educational finish line, wherever that may be. For example, software like Otter.ai can take notes for you, and you can summarize them with OpenAI and track your projects on Monday.com.

Remote learning is no longer considered a fringe or lesser higher education experience. Online classes can be your sole method of schooling, and you don’t have choose an online-only schools to get a remote degree.

If you require more accommodations that you did (or that were available) back when you were in college, look into those too: These days, every college has an office deevoted to helping people with disabilities do their best in academia. Neurodivergence, mental illness, or physical ability need not be an impediment in today's educational environment. School services can help you create a plan for success, and social attitudes have shifted to make receiving this assistance more commonplace and easier to access. 

Apply everything you learned as a professional to your back-to-school experience, and you’ll finally be able to get that (very expensive, hopefully equally valuable piece of paper.. 


from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/ol07NZG

It may not come as a surprise that there’s yet another scrumptious morsel you can easily whip up with the help of boxed pancake mix. This malty, self-rising baking mix makes an excellent frying batter for veggies and a perfect dough for apple fritters (among other tempting carb-laden snacks). With both sweet and savory applications, complete pancake mix can do no wrong. Let’s add another one to the list of Boxed Mix Greatest Hits: quick and easy blueberry muffins.

Most cakes and quick breads contain similar ingredients—flour, leavening agent, sugar, salt, fat, and eggs—just in different proportions. Baking from scratch comes easy to some, and they’re the folks who might find boxed pancake mix a veritable baking scam. It’s premixed dry ingredients (and sometimes even dry egg powder), so why not do it yourself? To that I say: Precisely!

Complete pancake mix is already pre-measured and combined, so all you have to do is mess with the proportions a bit and add some liquid to make the type of quick bread you want. Less time spent pulling six different containers out of the pantry, fewer measuring utensils, and an easier cleanup. Plus, sometimes you're just plum outta eggs.

Even boxed-mix baking can be easier with the right tools:

The right ratio for muffins

Muffins have a slightly higher sugar and fat content than pancakes, so besides liquid (which needs to be added regardless) that’s all that needs to be added. Oh, and the blueberries of course. I don’t like my muffins to be as sweet as cake, but if that speaks to you then add another tablespoon of sugar to the mix. Muffin batter is also much thicker than pancake batter, so keep in mind that the mixture should be rather thick.

Blueberry muffin batter in a bowl
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

How to make blueberry muffins from pancake mix

1. Whisk the boxed pancake mix, sugar, oil, and milk together in a mixing bowl. The mixture should be well combined, but a few lumps are okay. Add the blueberries and stir gently. You can use frozen blueberries, though they’ll tint the batter blue-gray. 

2. Spoon the batter into a buttered or paper lined cupcake pan. I usually fill them just shy of the top because I like the muffin to crown. For a crunchy crust, generously sprinkle granulated sugar over the tops of each muffin. 

3. Bake the muffins in a preheated 400°F oven for about 12 minutes, or until browned and springy in the center.

Feel free to zhuzh up your pancake mix muffins with a pinch of ground cinnamon, a splash of vanilla extract, orange zest, or even different fruit. This recipe makes about five muffins and can certainly be doubled.

Easy Blueberry Muffin Recipe (from pancake mix)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup complete pancake mix 

  • 2 tablespoons sugar + more for topping

  • 2 tablespoons canola oil

  • 4 tablespoons milk (subsitute alternative milk, or water)

  • ½ - ⅔ cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 6-cup cupcake pan with paper liners, or generously butter the cups and the top edge around each cup.

2. Whisk the pancake mix, sugar, oil, and milk together in a bowl until combined. The mixture should be well combined but a few lumps are okay. Stir the blueberries into the mixture gently with a spoon.

3. Divide the batter into each muffin cup. Generously sprinkle the tops with more granulated sugar. 

4. Bake the muffins for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned and they’re springy in the center. 


from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/ELIoc7K

Between shows like Finding Your Roots on PBS and the proliferation of companies like 23andMe, conversations about genealogy and family history have become mainstream—trendy, even. While not everyone wants to spit in a tube and potentially sign their physical data away, tracing one's ancestors is hardly a new tech trend—genealogy has been a major field of study for a very long time. Rest assured, you can learn plenty about your own ancestry without sacrificing any saliva.

I’m no genealogist, but with some research I’ve been able to find some amazing family stories and artifacts via the internet and the U.S. National Archives. I've found my photojournalist dad’s old work, including prescient courtroom pics of Trump and nightlife snaps of Andy Warhol. Newspaper reviews found mentions of my step-grandmother’s aunt, a "famous nun in Italy," and a transatlantic plot twist—that our family immigrated from post-war Italy via ship travel through Ellis Island. They were among the last waves of people who did, when it was long assumed Nonna and Nonno came via modern air travel.

There are many reasons to trace one's ancestry, whether purely out of curiosity, a quest for truth, or even for practical reasons like citizenship or legal affairs. Here are some tips for tracing your ancestry, along with valuable insights from experts.

Start with the obvious stuff first

It was happenstance that brought me to my dad‘s archive of Getty images, but it could've just been Google. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t run a basic internet search on their family members, myself included. Of course, you may not glean any Earth-shattering insights just by searching for that family member’s name, but it's always worth a try. The newspaper was the internet of the past, and before the late ‘90s, people were published for doing all kinds of stuff—good, bad, ugly, and otherwise. 

To maximize your chances of finding something, think of some additional phrases or keywords you can use to boost your search terms. If your dad worked at the same company for 30 years, try searching for his name and that company. Was your mom nurse of the year in 1993? Look that up, too. A lot of things—especially old, historical things—can pop up on page 10 of a search. The internet doesn't just include wedding, birth, and funeral records that have been digitized, but shop openings, political opinions, and other newsworthy events that have been scanned into the web by blessed archivists.

Genealogical resources to take advantage of, both in person and online

Of course, there are plenty of other non-Google resources you can use, too.

Popular DNA companies do more than analyze your DNA—they’ve been collecting volumes of identity data, too. Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com maintain digital records from around the world, huge volumes of info that include records and cultural relics. While both their DNA services and long-term memberships cost money, you can often try the databases for free with a trial. Still, if you're looking for information but don't want to (eventually) shell out money, there are plenty of options.

"Some naturalization records can be found on popular genealogy websites that are either free to everyone (such as FamilySearch.org), free at most public libraries (such as AncestryInstitution.com and others), or by paid subscription," a representative for the National Archives told me. NARA also pointed me toward the Resources for Genealogists page on archives.gov and the Genealogy Community on History Hub as additional sources of information.

For folks looking to engage with the Archives, they have research rooms open to the public, with on-site access to computers—and some days, an archivist on duty that may be able to assist you directly. Speaking of archivists, that brings me to my next resource: libraries.

Working in journalism, I have nothing but love for librarians. I've often learned cool facts or historical tales via the help of library staff—especially those in New York City. If you want to work with a librarian in the locations where your family has lived, they may be able to help you find mentions of your family or their businesses, properties, accolades, or tragedies.

If your family has been all over the globe, you don't have to travel to start your library research. Email a library politely and reach out and see if they have the time (or energy) to help you with your search. If you’re not local to a particular library, institutional librarians, like those that work for universities and governments, might be able to lend a hand.

Dig a little deeper

This is the fun part: being your own detective. Once you have a few documents to work from, it's time to start making connections to find even more.

“Finding a name mentioned is not enough," a representative for NARA said. "Many people may have the same name. Whether the name is mentioned in a newspaper article or some other record, identifying the person is a combination of factors in addition to their name, such as geographic location, date of the event, age, occupation, religion, relationship to other persons named in the record, and so forth. Locating as many records as possible about the person is key."

Use the clues from photos—maybe a name on the sign outside a restaurant, for example—stories your grandmother told you, fragments of memories, or anything that can provide material information. All of it will help lead you to even more stuff, and you'll likely find answers to questions you had never thought to ask in the first place.


from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/PxBsaD0

Anthropic is freeing its AI chatbot, Claude, from your desktop. The highly successful ChatGPT competitor has now made the jump to iOS, launching its first-ever official chatbot app for the iPhone.

The new iOS app is available to download right now, and can do everything that Claude on the web can do, including analyzing images and helping you brainstorm. It can also use images straight from your mobile library and even take new photos for immediate upload. Pro users still get full access to premium features, including the model selector and a greatly increased message limit. With such a fully-featured mobile experience, Claude is one step closer to closing any gaps between itself and ChatGPT.

To try out the Claude app for yourself, download it directly from the App Store. Just be careful not to install any imposters. One of the first options that shows up when searching for Claude is an app called "Chat AI with Claude," which tracks quite a lot of your personal information, including purchases, device ID, user ID, app usage, and more. Either be careful when searching, or just click this link to go directly to Claude's App Store listing.

Anthropic says that Claude’s iOS app will allow for seamless syncing between the web and mobile app, so you can move from your laptop to your iPhone and pick up where you left off. You can also take photos and import them directly into the app to analyze them. The mobile app is available for all Claude users, including free users, although there's no word on an Android version yet.

On top of launching its iOS app, Anthropic also recently debuted a new Teams subscription for the AI chatbot, which offers the premium version of the chatbot for just $30 a user per month, with a minimum of five users.


from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/klZ3yDn

If you have limited space in your garden, you have to make hard decisions each year about what you’ll grow. The most important factor in choosing what to grow is what you like to eat. If you like pizza, summer is a spectacular time—throw some stretched pizza dough on the grill and top it with fresh veggies from the garden, cheese, and sauce (or fresh tomatoes you grew). The level of satisfaction you’ll draw will be tremendous, so I humbly suggest that this year, you grow a pizza garden. 

Choose vegetables for the toppings

A pizza usually starts with tomatoes, and if you like sauce, you'll want sauce or paste tomatoes. If you prefer to just have slices of juicy tomatoes on your pizza, you'll want larger heirloom slicing tomatoes. You can, of course, grow both. While tomatoes are obvious, consider what other vegetables you’d enjoy on the pizza, and remember that you don’t need to think traditionally. In my twenties, I had a pizza somewhere with grilled eggplant on it, and I’ve made that pizza every summer since. Classic choices like peppers, onions, and basil are a good place to start. But consider summer squash or zucchini, too. Once sliced and grilled, they’re delicious on pizzas. Spinach, oregano, arugula, or rosemary will all help produce a delicious pie.

Make space considerations

While some vegetables do better together than others, there also isn’t great harm in planting most vegetables together, even if they’re not beneficial—with a few exceptions. You don’t want to plant fennel in your pizza garden, since it will negatively affect all other vegetables planted with it. You can keep fennel in a separate planter nearby. Also, if you love broccoli and cauliflower on your pizza, you’ll want to keep them on one side of your vegetable bed, and keep your tomatoes, peppers and eggplants on the other side. Your greens like basil, arugula, and spinach can live in between them. The major issue is considering the space each plant needs, which will vary. Zucchini will become quite large horizontally, so I like to have it hang off the edge of the bed. Tomatoes, particularly indeterminate ones, grow quite tall, so you need support for them. Basil prefers to be hidden between plants to grow prolifically. Onions can be interplanted with tomatoes, for instance, since they occupy different space—tomatoes are above ground, and onions below it. 

A pizza garden is a late summer treat

A number of the items in your pizza garden need most of the season to grow. You’ll see tomatoes by the middle of summer, but peppers and eggplants take a bit longer to incubate. In the meanwhile, you’ll be able to enjoy your squash, arugula, and spinach in other dishes. Onions can be picked in their scallion stage, even though they’re not fully bulbed out. Just make sure you leave enough in the ground to reach a more mature state for later in summer. 

Growing all these vegetables together will make for a really colorful bed with lots of height and texture variance, but it will also ensure that you don’t have one giant target for specific pests, as you would with a whole tomato bed or a big bed of basil. Those monocultures are like a glaring “open for business” sign for the pests that love that particular crop. Each summer, you’ll learn a little more about your bed, and where to arrange the vegetables in the pizza garden for the best space, access to the sun and ease of harvesting.


from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/pNqG6sP